Richard Serra's "reversal" drawings employ two identical rectangular sheets of paper that are adjoined in a vertical or horizontal format, with the black-and-white areas reversing themselves proportionally top to bottom (or left to right). Vertical and Horizontal Reversals is the most extensive presentation of Serra's reversal drawings to be published. It reproduces all thirty-three drawings shown in 2014's exhibition at David Zwirner in New York, including a group of new horizontal reversals.

Richard Serra was born in San Francisco in 1938. Since the 1960s he has exhibited extensively throughout the world. In addition, Serra has created a number of sitespecific sculptures in public and private venues in both North America and Europe. Serra's books at Steidl include Sculpture 1985-1998 (1999), The Matter of Time (2005), Te Tuhirangi Contour (2005) and Notebooks (2011). He lives in New York and Nova Scotia.